I, am the parent of a middle schooler

And it is becoming more and more obvious to me. I can’t deny it. Even though I try.

I think I’ve mentioned before, I’m not the queen of sentimental. Andy jokingly and lovingly? calls me Black Heart when he thinks I should have responded to something with a little more empathy. I’m really not that bad, I promise. But I was not the mom who cried when her kids went to school all day. However, blame it on my old age (are you tired of that yet), I have reminisced a few times this year as my oldest has gone to middle school.

He’s 12 today. This time last year he didn’t care if his clothes matched or if he had combed his hair. Now I’m getting requests before I go to the store for cologne and hair gel. Its all a part of the circle of life, cue Elton John. This mom is a little bit sad her boy is growing up. The other night it ended up just being me and him for the evening. I thought I might be nice and let him have a friend over, since his little sisters wouldn’t be there to demand some of their time. But I decided to keep him all to myself. He still likes to hang out with me. I know that time is coming to an end – possibly tomorrow so I’m going to scoop up what little time I have with him and try to make the most of it. Its usually full of eye rolls when I am trying to impart some sort of motherly wisdom. But I know he listens. I love that he asks me questions and wants to tell me things. I read somewhere a long time ago that if you listen to the unimportant things when your kids are little, then they’ll tell you the important things when they get older. I’ve really made a point to do this. Even when the conversation requires me to watch lego videos on you tube (which is torture). But I really do want him to know he can talk to me about anything. That’s going to be super important in the next 6 years.

He loves playing soccer, listening to Adventures in Odyessy while he does 2000 piece puzzles, pizza, reading, watching Denver Bronco football with his dad, making lego movies, and all things Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He’s got a spiritual sensitivity that I think he got from his Grandad Sodowsky whom he never knew. I hope he learns from his mistakes, tries his very best at everything he does, and continues to love God with all his heart